America has survived many national emergencies.
Presidents have dealt with innumerable crises. Being forced to sign a compromise-laden spending bill doesn’t qualify.
The announcement Thursday that President Donald Trump would declare a national emergency is an act of petulance. Trump’s spokeswoman said he would approve a stopgap budget to keep the government operating. But she also said he would go around Congress after lawmakers wouldn’t give him the money he wants to build a wall on the southern border.
Trump was thwarted by House Democrats, so he’ll show them: He invoked the emergency powers of the presidency Friday to tap other government sources for funding.
Trump followed through on his threat, and now he likely faces a court challenge.
Legal scholars said declaring an emergency could give the White House authority to divert the U.S. military from other construction projects to work on Trump’s wall. But there is no statutory definition of “emergency,” and the laws that might empower Trump to sidestep Congress don’t give him carte blanche.
There are technical requirements that must be met in order for the military to put aside other construction duties to build a wall.
That’s all related to the question of whether Trump can declare a national emergency to build a wall.
His move wildly oversteps the limits of presidential powers. Congress makes the laws and approves budgets. Presidents have veto power but they aren’t emperors.
Trump sought $5.7 billion in a spending bill for the wall and tangled with those unyielding House Democrats. The impasse led to the previous 35-day partial government shutdown.
This week, all sides came together to hash out the spending bill that gives Trump just $1 billion or so for barriers. Without this deal, the government would have gone back into shutdown mode Friday at midnight.
So Trump relented.
Now he’s bullying his way to building a wall by justifying his action on national security and humanitarian grounds.
Border security is vital to the country, but Trump’s obsession with building a physical wall isn’t justified by facts on the ground. This is his political preoccupation, not an existential crisis for the United States.
If his national emergency declaration survives court scrutiny, Trump claims a victory at real cost to the balance of powers between the presidency and Congress.
He undermines the Constitution.
In recent decades presidents sought to expand their authority through the use of executive action. Trump’s move to assert powers previously invoked during times of military conflict or natural disaster takes presidential prerogative to a new level.
If his strategy succeeds, how will Trump next seek to impose his will on Americans?
And what about the next president?
— Chicago Tribune